i think that’s part of of why i asked, and i agree that a character not being played often is a sign that something needs to be looked at. but also, if a character isn’t being played very often and is still seeing a lot of outcry, that indicates to me data that should be collected in an intentional manner.
i really wish devs would send out surveys to a sample of players for stuff like this, so they’re not just going based off frustrated posts made seconds after a game with sombra, or frustrated content creators venting in a discord. if someone asked me how i felt about junkrat five seconds after i got blown up with a silly trap location, i’d be all for deleting him, i’m sure! but if someone asked me how i felt about junkrat’s power level and various abilities in a survey format when i’m NOT currently in game, i’d probably have a different answer.
if someone asks in a survey: “how many times have you played against a sombra in the past week?” and a person answers very high, but the data shows they only ran into 3 sombras actually, that says something. likewise, if they say they never see sombras, but they played with a dozen, that says something too. for all that people say “blizzard doesn’t care about players feelings, they only balance based around the data!” i wish they actually did collect more qualitative data in a structured manner than they do.